I was asked to repost my final resolution because everyone got out of hand on the original post. Not trying to stir things up. Just informing others (hopefully not needed) if they land in my position.

Before I say all of this I love my car. This is my second Corvette and I saved over 3 years to trade my old one in for this one. It was a great car. It kills me to even write this one.

Aug 18th:
I was driving my new 2014 C7 convertible to work and I heard a squeal and a large pop. I was on the interstate with the engine turning less than 1800 RPMs. The engine went dead and the car left me stranded on the side of the road. The car was broke in properly. This car was only 3 months old with 3,645 miles. It was never tracked or run hard. For that matter it never was parked outside.

Aug 25th: The reason for the motor failure was due to one or maybe two spun rod bearings. The dealer called me and says that they are replacing the crankshaft, #6 rod, and all of the bearings. There should be no reason to have this type of heart transplant on a new car. I really did not know how they will clear out all of contamination from the motor and pumps.

Sept 15th:
Dealer got all of the parts and started to tear down the motor. Found #5 cylinder was damaged due to rod bearing issue. Dealer was told to replace the engine.

Sept 22:
GM Tech is getting the motor back for analysis. Said they had to find out the cause. They told the dealer to replace all parts that carry or hold oil. All lines, housings, pumps etc..

Should have a complete new engine from the factory. Thank goodness. I was very uncomfortable with them rebuilding the bottom of the motor and the possible debris in the pump or other parts of the motor.


My actions:
Called the 1-800 GM service and I was told someone would call in 72 hours. That did not happen.
After a week, I wrote an email to GM VP of operations and 5 days latter finally got a response. I got a case number. 1-1355983944.
Called back but they did not back down from rebuilding the bottom of my motor in a car with 3,600 miles. Really was not comfortable with it.
Got lucky with the cylinder damage. Getting complete new motor. GM finally stepped up.


My mistake:
I took the car to a dealer that was close thinking it was simple issue. My original dealer I purchased the parts was not interested in helping with someone else's service work. The new dealer service center was going to fix only what GM said to. Nobody was fighting for me or addressing my contamination concerns. I was lucky there was cylinder wall damage and GM finally told them to replace everything.

I would take it back to my purchasing dealer if I had it to do over. I just thought it would be something simple. I think I would have got more support from that dealer to GM. GM was listening to dealer service but not listening to me.

Car is going to be done for about 45 days or more. But at least I will have a new motor. I can only hope I do not have residual installation issues. I wonder if it can be a collector being assembled in Memphis. Hopefully I will have some top down weather left this season.

Hope no one else has to go through this but if you do maybe it will help another Vette owner.

Update 9-24:
The 45 days looks like it will closer to 30 days total. I know there was some discussion about the total time. Want to keep the facts straight. The new engine is in the car but still waiting on some more external parts. Suppose to be done in a couple more days. Still no word from GM. Just me and the service guys and they have been good.

Tech has 20 year of experience and believes the crank may have been bad. He said the #6 rod bearing totaly disintegrated. It did not look to be a filter issue. But you can't tell now with the damage. This is all speculation other than the actual damage.

The piston skirt did damaged the #6 cylinder wall. See additional pics.
Car is in pieces at the dealer. Really looks bad. Trying to stay positive. I am getting to see all the insides of the motor.

Maybe they can add a blower while they got it apart.
It is still a great car. I believe I just got a bad one. I would buy one again. Just not his one.

Someone asked what car I had. It is a Z51 Auto Convertible.
I got a Malibu as a replacement car. It works fine but not really compariable
Others asked me to PM them other info. It is on the way.

 

Two words: Lemon Law!

What state are you in? What are their lemon law requirements?

 

What???!!! GM is (finally) doing what's right with him and replacing the entire motor, oil lines, etc. and you think he should fight them for a new car? That makes zero sense.

Most lemon laws require multiple failures and trips for repair. One failure that's fixed doesn't invoke a lemon law, that's what warranties are for.

 

Quoted from him: "I can only hope I do not have residual installation issues"

Sounds like he might be concerned. Why drive around in fear?

Some states allow a certain number of days out of service to qualify too.

 

Engine failures seem to be more common lately with certain models of Corvettes. GM needs to work on their quality before I would consider buying another car from them.

 

I'm afraid when mine gets to 10k miles it might blow up. Or something. I shouldn't have to drive around in fear. Can I get a new one every 9k miles?

I seriously doubt that days waiting for resolution and parts to fix one problem the first time count much toward most states' lemon laws, but I'm not a lawyer and didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

OP, thanks for posting an update; glad you're getting resolution.

Cue the C7 haters and their "OMG engines are blowing up everywhere" posts.

 

Lemon Laws by State

 

Looks like most states DO have days out of service for LL.

No, you can't get a new car every 9k miles, has your car failed and been out of service for X amount of days or had X #'s of repairs according to your states laws?

Hopefully his car is repaired in a timely matter, it shouldn't have taken them a month to come to resolution.

 

OP, thanks for the update. I stopped reading the old thread long ago. Good luck and I hope you get your car back soon!

 

Glad you are finally getting the car fixed. Hope this solves all your problems.

 

California Lemon Law within 18,000 miles or 18 months of delivery and although there is a rule of thumb regarding the number of attempts to repair a problem, there is also this and it states "or."

or (3) The vehicle is out of service because of the repair of any number of problems by the manufacturer or its agents for a cumulative total of more than 30 days since delivery of the vehicle.

I wrote a letter to GM regarding my C6 within a few months of the purchasing the vehicle new and mailed it certified return receipt notifying GM of the problem. My letter clearly stated my intention to pursue the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. I was contacted by GM within three days of their receipt of the letter. The rep informed me they were aware of the problem and were actively trying to resolve the issue using another customer's car in Michigan. I ended up waiting and the problem was ultimately resolved.

 

Did I read this right -- it's going to take ANOTHER 45 days to fix your car?

GM should give you a new car, IMHO. A car that blows up and is out of commission for 2.5+ months is a lemon in my book.

My profession is in manufacturing (not automobile-related), with a focus on quality and reliability. There will always be defects and escapes from the factory, and based on what I've read here in the forum, the C7 has a generally high level of quality for a new and complex product, such that it is. But when the inevitable happens and an unlucky customer receives a bad unit, the company should not punish the customer by depriving him use of the product for which he has paid. The product should be replaced and the defective product taken back for failure analysis and future corrective action.

Disclosure: I've been a Corvette owner for all of 3 weeks and 650 miles, and I'm loving every minute of it! I would be livid if my new car, which I'd saved for years to purchase, blew up and I couldn't drive it for months and months because it was clearly defective from the factory.

I am not a GM hater, but I am certainly hating the way GM is treating OP in this unfortunate circumstance.

 

OP, thank you for the update. Hope all goes well for your C7 situation. The Federal Lemon Law is there if you want to exercise it. Good luck.

 

45 days to install a motor, that's not a bad turn around......

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

Can I ask a question here? Are you a Z51 car? Been trying to put my head around this rod/main bearing issue. Not trying to stir a fuss, just narrow down which cars have issues. I am a wet sump non Z car. What is your car?

 

Lousy situation that really does not instill confidence.

 

Now you have to worry about the GM techs installing the new engine. Hopefully everything turns out ok for you. Very unfortunate but somewhat expected when it comes to GM and their service.

 

Are you being compensated in any way? You are saying 45 days from today, that means you'll be paying for a car you don't drive for 3 months. GM should be compensating you for at least 4 months of payments, plus they should give you a loaner.

Please don't tell me they are just going to fix up the car and return to you and nothing else.

You have a LEMON car, find a lawyer, and use the lemon law to return the car. This amount of wait is unacceptable and the law is pretty clear.

 

This is very incorrect (at least in Texas)

As long as your car is in the shop the day counts as a day of lost use that tallies up for the lemon law guidelines.

The only way around this is if the dealership provides you with a "Comparable" loaner car, if they do than every day you have a "Comparable" loaner is a day that does NOT count in the tally.

The tricky word here is "Comparable", a loaner Stingray would be comparable... The Chevy Cruze loaner car in the service department is not comparable...


If it was me I'd be lemon lawing that thing like it was going out of style. Its total BS that your going to be out of a car that you paid $60k+ for 2 months right after you bought it.

 

Stalling and hoping the customer will settle for less than s/he is deserved seems to be the new mantra of corporate America. Reminds me of health insurance companies that always try to put up "roadblocks" to forking over money for medical care.

GM should have stepped forward and "taken the high road" in this matter--but we all know that. IF this was an aberration, the loss of, say, replacing the car, would have had minimal impact on profits and gone a LONG way in repairing their damaged reputation of the last few years. What I worry about is that GM might be concerned this is NOT an isolated incident and doesn't want to set a precedent of replacing cars for each failure.

Sad to note the OP / customer contacted GM service--NOT about a small problem but a blown engine--and can't even return a call in 72 hours. WOW !